Free agent forward Kawhi Leonard, the two-time NBA Finals MVP who just led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA title last month, has agreed to join the Clippers, according to reports. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

The NBA marquee in L.A. will bear two new names next season — PLAYING TONIGHT: KAWHI LEONARD … and PAUL GEORGE.

Oh, and they’ll be taking the floor for the Clippers.

Despite the appeal of the superstar duo down the Staples Center hallway, Leonard ended months of speculation by agreeing to a four-year, $141 million max contract late Friday night to join Steve Ballmer’s team, spurning the Lakers and bringing new relevance to the L.A. team that once was a punchline in the city and around the league.

The Clippers also are acquiring All-Star forward Paul George, another Southern California native, from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a package that includes second-year guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, veteran forward Danilo Gallinari and a record-setting collection of draft choices, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report.

The Clippers are sending the Thunder four unprotected first-round picks (2022, 2024, 2026 and the 2021 pick the Clippers acquired from Miami), one lottery-protected first-round pick (2023, from Miami) and the right to swap picks with the Clippers in 2023 and 2025, according to reports.

Leonard is a two-time NBA champion, having just led the Toronto Raptors to the first title in their franchise history. Now, he’ll try to do the same with the Clippers.

The 28-year-old Leonard will return to Southern California, where he led King High of Riverside to the 2009 CIF-SS Division 1AA boys basketball title.

In eight NBA seasons, the three-time All-Star has averaged 17.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals. With his splendidly intuitive play and extraordinary wingspan, Leonard arrives as a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and with more career steals (829) than turnovers (793).

Last season, the 6-foot-7 small forward posted career highs in points (26.6 points) and rebounds (7.3) in 60 games.

He was even better in the postseason, averaging 30.5 points on 49 percent shooting, to go with 9.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals – and the NBA Finals MVP.

Drafted 15th in 2011 out of San Diego State, Leonard also was the 2014 NBA Finals MVP with the San Antonio Spurs.

George, 29, is a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection who was raised in Palmdale and went to college at Fresno State for two years. He’s a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team.

Last season, the 6-9 small forward/shooting guard finished third in MVP voting last season, when he posted career bests in points (28), rebounds (8.2), assists (4.1) and steals (2.2).

Selected 10th overall by the Indiana Pacers in the 2010 NBA Draft, George suffered a broken leg in 2014 while competing for a roster spot on the U.S. national team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup and missed most of the 2014-15 season.

He recovered and came back strong, becoming an All-Star again in 2016, when he was a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning team.

He was traded to Oklahoma City in 2017 in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis – despite his pending free agency and George’s proclamations that he preferred to join the Lakers and return to Southern California.

When he became a free agent, George opted instead to stay in OKC, saying he “loved the situation” and re-signing to a reported four-year, $137 million contract.

A summer later, it’s California here they come.

Throughout the past season, the Clippers were rumored to have the upper hand in wooing Leonard, who reportedly wanted to be traded from San Antonio to one of the L.A. teams a year ago after a tumultuous season in which he played only nine games for the Spurs.

Instead, San Antonio dealt him north of the border last summer along with Danny Green in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round draft pick.

Without a second superstar beside him, Leonard lifted a deep Raptors team to unprecedented heights.

The Raptors’ success and the Lakers’ pairing of Anthony Davis with LeBron James appeared to only complicate Leonard’s free agency decision.

The Clippers offered a proven coach in Doc Rivers and a gritty squad with a blacktop mentality that far exceeded expectations last season by winning 48 games and making the playoffs without an All-Star on their roster.

Their drama-free, workmanlike approach last season seemed as though it would appeal to Leonard, a famously stoic superstar who, before Friday night’s report, kept fans in Toronto and L.A. in the pitch dark as free agency approached, erupted and then wore on.

As fans waited and fretted, there was no word from the Clippers’ front office, led by Lawrence Frank and Michael Winger, and bolstered by Hall of Famer Jerry West in a consulting role. They had managed to reconfigure the team’s roster in fewer than two seasons to create the salary cap space necessary to pursue Leonard and, potentially, another max-level star while remaining competitive on the court.

“It’s been unfortunate how things have turned out for the city of Toronto, and all of Canada, that we couldn’t run it back,” said Danny Green, Leonard’s Raptors and Spurs teammate, on Instagram, where Green also announced that he planned to sign a two-year deal with the Lakers.

By signing Leonard, the Clippers successfully have pried a premier free agent away from the Lakers for the first time and applied a resounding exclamation point to their ambitious, swift transformation: In fewer than two years, they went from high-flying also-ran to afterthought to scrappy underdog to championship contender.

They turned off the lights on Lob City, finished the chapter on the post-Blake Griffin contingent led by Tobias Harris, and, mid-stride, flipped the script again, maneuvering to get younger, stockpile assets and compile a gritty collection of competitors. That group will be remembered fondly by fans for pushing the Golden State Warriors to six games in a first-round playoff series this spring.

Now the Clippers head into the 2019-20 season having added two marquee talents with the potential to change the franchise’s fate for seasons to come.

Additionally, the Clippers are waiving guard Tyrone Wallace, according to ESPN. Last season, the 25-year-old guard averaged 3.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 10.1 minutes per game.

The Thunder’s Paul George celebrates with a flex after making a basket during the second half of a game against the Lakers last season at Staples Center. George is being traded to the Clippers, where he will team up with free agent Kawhi Leonard, who has agreed to sign with the Clippers. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Mirjam Swanson covers the Clippers, the NBA and the LA Sparks for the Southern California News Group. Previously, she wrote about LeBron James and the rest of the Dream Team at the 2004 Olympics (where, yes, they took bronze), Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on one leg, and had a tour reporting on city government, education and the occasional bear in a backyard.

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